VA prostate patients may have been contaminated

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VA prostate patients may have been contaminated

StanforthStaff writer

(April 19, 2006) — Some Canandaigua Veterans Affairs patients might be contacted starting this week about a prostate biopsy device that might not have been as clean as it should have been during their procedures. The Department of Veterans Affairs found during a routine patient safety inspection at a medical facility in Maine that an instrument that takes biopsies from the prostate was not being scrubbed with a brush, as it should have, after each procedure. The instrument, called the B-K Biopsy Transducer, was being washed and sterilized, but was not being submitted to the scrubbing.The VA has said it has not received reports of patients being harmed. Dan , public affairs officer with the Canandaigua VA, said that "the risk is very, very slim. "But they do want to make sure every precaution is taken."The Canandaigua VA has identified 386 patients who have received prostate biopsies in the last 10 years, and will narrow the list down to those who had the transducer device used during their procedures. The VA will offer those patients free testing for hepatitis B and C, and HIV. Sixteen other VA medical centers across the U.S., including one in Buffalo, were also alerted about the possible device contamination. Though 154 centers use the device, only the 17 alerted use the particular needle guide attached to the instrument, that needed to be scrubbed. A representative from the federal VA system did not immediately return a call seeking comment.LSTANFOR@...

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